Reservations for shows

[SDJEL]

We are thinking about booking a Royal Caribbean cruise on one of the new really large ships. I have read that you need to make reservations far in advance for the shows. This really does not appeal to me. On vacation, we like to go with the flow and see what we are in the mood for that night. On the new really large ships, at peak times like spring break, can you just walk in a half an hour before the show starts and get a seat?

Also, during those peak weeks, how crowded are the pools and the decks? Are the pools kids soup? Is it reasonably easy to get a deck chair? Although I am a morning person, I am not the type to go down and save a chair early in the day.

In advance, thank you for the advice. I have found these boards to be really helpful with our Disney cruises.

 

[starvenger]

I've been on a couple of Allure cruises in the summer. Going on Harmony in August.

You do not need to make reservations, however those with reservations get dibs on going in first, after which it's first come, first served. I can't see "going with the flow" being an issue with shows in the main theatre or the skating show, but with the aqua show and comedy shows it's better to have a reservation, as the seating is much more limited. You may want to consider booking a time for all shows anyway and no show if you're not feeling it that day.

I think it's pretty easy to get a deck chair in the afternoon, with the caveat that I did go in the summer so it may not have been as crowded during the school break week(s). Unlike DCL, you should also be able to go into the pool, so long as you're not in the kids quadrant, which can get pretty crowded.

 

[WDWLover75]

I went on an Allure cruise and found that reservations WERE important. The people who did not have a reservation had to wait in a long standby line and then were let in after those with reservations were seated, and there were not enough seats for everyone. I was not able to see the Broadway show because we slept threw our reservation and then couldn't get in to the later shows. Oops.

 

[mevelandry]

Good to know. I'll make sure we have reservations.

Is that the case for every type of shows? Comedy shows as well?

 

[starvenger]

Yep

 

[nkereina]

We were on Oasis back in April and I agree with PP that reservations were important. Our sailing was the week of April 2nd which was two weeks before Easter, but we had tons of people from Georgia and Michigan on our sailing that were on Spring Break so it was a semi-peak week IMO.

As mentioned, those without reservations had long stand by lines. People without reservations would get there quite early to wait in stand by. There was usually room for some stand by, but not always for everyone in the line. Even with reservations, we still got to the show about 30 minutes in advance because they open it up to stand by about 15 minutes before show time. I scheduled our reservations about 90 days in advance and still found it difficult to balance our MTD dinner reservations against show times while leaving opportunity to play things by ear. I didn't want to be constantly clock watching. We did end up missing Come Fly With Me and Cats because we simply didn't have the time or space in our schedule for it.

We only sat in the Solarium but I did get there around 8am every day to grab spots for us. On the first sea day, "prime" chairs in the sun were mostly claimed by 9am. It was earlier on the second sea day once people were hip to the chair claiming game. We ended up with 4 seats together on the second floor of the Solarium both days - the first floor was mostly claimed by the time I got there. The pools and hot tub in the Solarium were relatively crowded but people would come and go. We still got in when we wanted and it wasn't terrible. We didn't sit out on the main pool deck but there always seemed to be chairs on deck 16, one deck up, which is an easy commute to the pools - just some stairs. We did find it very very windy on decks 15 and 16, but it could have been the time of year.